Delivery end mechanism



Dec. 9, 1958 A J. RICHARDS DELIVERY END MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledDec. 1, 1955 INVENTOR. 4J1 P /44mm" Dec. 9, 1958 A. J. RICHARDS2,863,663

DELIVERY END MECHANISM Filed Dec. 1, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. R/cH/l RDS Dec. 9, 1958 A. J. RICHARDS 2,863,663

DELIVERY END MECHANISM Filed Dec. 1, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

limited States Patent ice DELIVERY END MECHANISM Augustus J. Richards,Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to Bonnar-Vawter, Incorporated, Cleveland,Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application December 1, 1955, Serial No.550,343

4 Claims. (Cl. 271-69) This invention relates to delivery end mechanismfor manifold form producing machines, whether the forms be of the stripor fanfold type and is primarily concerned with the handling of shortform packs when severed from a collated web.

The problem in delivery of such short form packs is largely the resultof endeavoring to do so as speedily as possible, and at the same timemaintain the packs in alignment. and in groups for easy counting andpacking.

The necessity for gathering and counting the form packs in many cases,and doing so most simply by machinery, requires that a constant rate ofdelivery by a delivery unit of the delivery end mechanism beco-ordinated with a carry-off unit which has a variable rate ofoperation, transfer from one to the other of [the units being necessary.This in turn involves guiding the form packs during transfer or in somemanner controlling or directing the same.

It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide adelivery end mechanism wherein short form packs may be severed from aweb, picked up by feeding devices at a constant rate, and transferred togroup separating and carry-off instrumentalities which gather the packsinto groups, and operateat a different rate, while assuring that thepacks will be guided so as to effect orderly transfer.

A further object of the invention is to provide novel means for guidingthe form packs during the transfer described, irrespective of thedifference in rates of movement of the packs prior to and after suchtransfer.

A still further object of the invention is to provide novel means asabove set forth, which comprise a stream or streams of air properlydirected toward the form packs during the transfer set forth, whereby toassure that the packs remain intact and move into proper position in therespective groups.

Other andsimilar objects of the invention will be understood from aconsideration of the specification appended hereto and shown in thedrawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a view in elevation showing the delivery end portion of thecollating machine, the same being somewhat diagrammatic in nature andillustrating the general relationship of the various parts hereof.

Figure 2 is a top plan view, somewhat fragmentary in nature showingfurther the various mechanisms availed of herein.

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view, somewhat fragmentary in natureshowing the transfer and guiding mechanism of the invention.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly initially Figures 1 and2, the machine hereof is shown as comprising a main frame 1 above whichis mounted a drum 2 having the knives or blades 3 extending radiallytherefrom, the drum 2 being supported in any preferred manner and beingdriven rotatably so as to in this instance move in a counter-clockwisedirection whereby to sever the web of collated forms indicated at 4 intothe short section denoted at 5 which short section 5 for examplePatented Dec. 9, 1958 and now referring to Figure 2 also, include therollers 7 which grip the form pack 6 for example, the rollers 7 beingsupported at the out board end of arms 8 which arms 8 in turn aresupported on a transversely extending shaft 9, the rollers 7 beingdriven by chain 10 reeved over sprockets indicated at 11 and 12.

As seen in Figure 1 particularly a downwardly extending conveyor unitindicated at 13 includes out board frame members such as 14 and 15,there being one each of the same at opposite sides of the conveyor unit13 which frame members 14 and 15 are in each case supported on an armsuch as 16 extending upwardly from the bed frame 17 of the machine.

This conveyor unit 13 includes the transversely extending shaft 9 at theupper portion for example upon which is supported a series of rollermembers such as 18, the roller members 18 engaging suitable belts suchas 19 of an endless construction the lower ends of the belts 19 engagingsimilar rollers 20 to the rollers 18 previously mentioned, the rollers20 being supported on the transversely extending shaft 21.

Beneath and closely spaced with regard to the above parts just referredto including the rollers 18 and 20 and the belts 19 is a correspondingseries of rollers and belts, referring now to Figure 1 indicated at 22for the upper series of rollers and 23 for the lower series of rollers aseries of belts 24 being mounted thereon.

Obviously the lower lap indicated at 25 of the upper series of rollersand belts is closely spaced with regard to the upper lap of the lowerseries of rollers and belts, the said upper lap being indicated at 26.The close spacing of the respective laps enables the gripping of formpacks such as 6 shown in the position 27, the form pack 27 beingpreceded by a form pack 28 and the form pack 28 having been preceded bya form pack 29 such as seen in Figure 1 and is near the lower end of thespaced roller and belt unit described above in detail.

The transverse shaft 30 upon which the lower rollers 23 are supported,likewise carries additional rollers for engagement by other belts suchas 31, these belts 31 engaging at their other ends with suitable rollerssuch as 32 which rollers 32 are supported on additional transverse shaft33.

It will be understood that the transverse shafts 21 and 30 are supportedat their outer ends in suitable structural members such as 46 whichmembers 46 are likewise mounted on and connected to the frame part 17.

Above the belts 31 and rollers 32 just described is a correspondingseries of belts 34, in this instance there being two of these as seen inFigure 2, which belts are supported at their ends on the rollers 35which rollers 35 are mounted on transverse shaft 36. The transverseshafts 33 and 36 are supported at their outer ends in suitable upwardlyextending plate members such as 40 at opposite sides of the frame andmounted on the frame members 17. The upper belts 34 include lower laps4f closely spaced with regard to the upper laps 42 of the lower belts 31whereby to grip the form packs, in this instance the form pack 44 beingillustrated in one pd sition.

In order to effect driving motion of the shaft 30, to drive the lowerseries of belts 24 previously mentioned, a suitable drive sprocket ismounted at one end as seen in Figure 2 engaging a chain 51 in turnconnected with a sprocket indicated in dotted lines at 52, the sprocket52 being mounted on a transverse shaft 53. At the outer end of the shaft53 as seen in Figure 2 a further sprocket 54 is provided engaging achain 55 the chain 55 in turn being driven by any suitable source ofpower not here illustrated, which source however may obviously be thesame source of power as is used to rotate the cylinder or drum 2previously described. 7

At the other end of the shaft 53 from the sprocket 54 is a furthersprocket 56, which in turn engages a chain 57, the chain 57 furtherbeing mounted on and drivably connected to a sprocket 58 at the outerextremity of a cross-shaft 59. The cross-shaft 59 again referring toFigure 2 is provided with a crank wheel 60 which crank wheel is availedof to drive other instrumentalities which will be describedsubsequently.

The transverse shaft 30 previously mentioned as having been driven bythe chain 51 and sprocket 50 mounted on the shaft is provided at 61 witha suitable gear engaging a further gear 62 on the shaft 21 whereby todrive the said shafts in unison and in opposite directions to therebycause the belts driven thereby to move simultancously and carry the formpacks such as 27, 28, etc., to the right as seen in Figures 1 and 2.

The mechanism thus far described may be said to largely comprise theform pack feeding devices which are availed of to deliver the form packscarried thereby through a gathering, group separating and carry-off setof instrumentalities which are now to be described, and as seen inFigures 1 and 2 as well as Figure 3 include a series of longitudinallyextending belts such as 64 which belts 64 at their ends as seen inFigure 2 are provided with suitable pulleys 65 over which the said beltsmay be reeved, the pulleys 65 being carried on a transverse shaft 66which shaft 66 is rotatably supported in the frame 17.

At the other end of the belts 64 are additional pulleys 67 which aresupported on transverse shaft 68 which shaft 68 is rotatably driven by asprocket 70 mounted thereon the sprocket 70 in turn engaging chain 80which is further connected to an additional sprocket 81 mounted on atransverse shaft 82. The shaft 82 is provided at its outer end as seenin Figure 2 at 83 with a relatively small gear which small gear engagessomewhat larger gear 84 carried on the frame member 17 being drivablyconnected to a shaft 85, which shaft 85 includes a gear 86 thereon,which gear 86 is arranged to be driven by a dog 87. Dog 87 is controlledas to its contact with the gear 86 by means of a dog 88 for driving afurther gear 89 frictionally drivably connected to the shaft 85 by meansof the spring pressed arrangement indicated at 90. The gear 89 isprovided with a deep notch in its periphery whereby upon contact of thedog with the notch, the dog being 88, will permit the other dog 87connected to the said dog 88 toengage the gear 86 and move the same arelatively greater distance than is normally the case. This movement iseffected by means of a pitman arm 91 connected to the part 60 previouslymentioned and likewise to the dogs 8'7 and 88. The normal motion of thepitman arm 91 is such as to impart a uniform rotation to the shaft 82.When the shaft 82 has caused the belts 64 to move a given distance, theaction of the dog 38 will cause the dog 87 to impart a greater incrementof movement to the belts 64 whereby to space groups of form packs adistance indicated at A in Figure 2 the usual distance of movement ofthe said form packs being indicated at B for purposes which will beunderstood as this description proceeds.

It should be made plain that the extreme rightward end of the machine asseen in Figure 2 includes a table 95 at which the person who is packingthe severed forms in their various groups stands and thus has accccss tothe forms as gathered in the respective groups, in this instance, theforms being shown as having been gathered in groups of five. Thisgathering of the form packs in groups, as explained, enables the packerto easily count the same and with very little effort to place the samein the shipping cartons as will be understood.

As the form pack such as 96, most clearly shown in Figures 1 and 3reaches the position shown in those figures, it is discharged from thelaps 41 and 42 and is thus, in effect, in the air.until it assumes theposition adjacent a form pack such as 97 shown in Figure 3 most clearly.

Considering now the Figure 3 disclosure, it will be seen that extendingtransversely above the form pack 96 is a hollow pipe 98 having a seriesof orifices 99 at any preferred location in its periphery which orificesare in a straight line axially of the pipe 98. The pipe 98 is supportedin any suitable support member 100 and is intended to provide a sourceof air indicated at 101 controllable by a suitable valve 102 having ahandle 103 therefor, the air being furnished from any source as by meansof the connecting pipe 104 as shown in Figure 2.

Assuming that the pipe 98 has been adjusted so that the orifices deliverair in the pattern shown in Figure 3, which adjustment may be made bymeans of the thumb screw 105 as will be understood, air may be admittedto the interior of the pipe 98 and thus delivered from the orifices 99so as to impinge upon the upper surface of the form pack 96 and since itis moving to the rightward as viewed in Figure 3 at the same time causethe form pack to move downwardly and be maintained in collected orgathered condition while at the same time moving rightwardly until thesaid form pack reaches a position beneath a hold-down roller 106, therebeing two of these, supported on transverse shaft 107. The shaft 107 isguidingly mounted in the slotted members such as 108 indicated in dottedlines in Figure 3, the form packs now resting upon the upper laps of thebelts 64 which belts 64 are moving, with respect to their upper lapsindicated at 109, toward the right in Figure 3 and thus gather the formpacks in the condition shown in the said Figure 3 disclosure forsubsequent collection and deposit in the packing boxes by the person whois packing the forms or form packs as the case may be.

It should be explained that if it were not for the air blast indicatedat 101, the form packs under many conditions have a tendency to separateand thus pile up or be improperly gathered beneath the hold-down rollers106, and it is necessary to have the separate carry-off mechanismincluding the belts 64 because of the variation in speed at which thesaid belts 64 are intended to operate by the means previously explainedincluding the gears 5 and 86 as well as the gears 83 and 84. It has beenfound that the air blast is most effective in maintaining the forms intheir collated condition as a form pack and thus the delivery endmechanism of the invention is particularly suitable for use in shortform manipulation. The fact that the forms such as 96 are so short,prevents them from being gripped by the hold-down rollers 106 beforethey leave the position between the laps 41 and 42 and thus are ineffect freely floating or moving, making the air blast more effective.Obviously the reason for having the separate carry-off mechanism is thedifferent rate of movement of the respective belts since it is desiredto gather the forms in the condition shown in Figure 3 for theirsubsequent manipulation by the operator.

I claim:

1. In delivery end mechanism of the class described, in combination,form pack feeding devices comprising a pair of superposed endless beltsadapted to grip and transport form packs therebetween, group separatingand carry-off instrumentalities to receive form packs after they are outof contact with the devices, said feeding devices and saidinstrumentalities being operable at differing speeds, saidinstrumentalities being spaced from the end of the devices, andpneumatic means directed from above the instrumentalities for guidingform packs downwardly from the devices to the instrumentalitiesirrespective of the differing speeds thereof.

2. In delivery end mechanism of the class described, in combination,form pack feeding devices operable to deliver form packs, form packgroup separating and carryoff instrumentalities to receive form packsfrom the devices, said instrumentalities being spaced a suflicientdistance from the devices to enable the form packs to be entirely out ofcontact with the devices, and air blast means directed from above thepacks for guiding form packs from said devices downwardly to saidinstrumentalities.

3. In delivery and mechanism of the class described, in combination,form pack feeding devices operable to deliver form packs at a constantrate, form pack group separating and carry-0E instrumentalities toreceive form packs from the feeding devices, the instrumentalities beingspaced from the devices to thereby completely release the packstherefrom, said instrumentalities being operable at varying speeds, andair blast means acting independently of the devices andinstrumentalities from a position above such packs as released forguiding form packs from said devices to said instrumentalities.

4. In delivery end mechanism of the class described, in combination,form pack feeding devices comprising References Cited in the file ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,232,422 Halvorsen July 3, 19171,758,535 Post May 13, 1930 2,261,971 Matthews Nov. 11, 1941

